WORLD BUSINESS BRIEFING: ASIA; ASTRA IS URGED TO REVEAL PLANS

Indonesia's bank restructuring agency has requested that the country's largest automaker, Astra International, hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Feb. 8 to discuss management changes and review plans to sell new Astra shares. Bank closings and pledges by big corporate debtors have made the agency Astra's largest shareholder, with a stake of roughly 40 percent. The agency aims to sell its holding to help raise money for the nation's bank bailout and last month it named as its preferred buyer a group of investors led by Gilbert Global Equity Partners and Newbridge Capital.